What PSA Hiring 1,000 Graders and Expansion Will Mean For the Hobby

Ryan Alford and Brian Ludden are back to break down what is really happening beneath the surface of the hobby right now.

This episode covers PSA’s reported hiring push, the challenge of maintaining grading quality at scale, the growing speed of new product releases, and how companies like Ludex are trying to keep up with collector demand in real time. Ryan brings the card-shop and operator perspective, Brian brings the product and data perspective, and together they connect the dots between infrastructure, hype, and what collectors are actually dealing with day to day.

They also touch on major sales, market signals, and why so much of the hobby is now building toward one thing: The National. It is a good episode for collectors who want more than product hype and are paying attention to how the business side of the hobby is evolving.

Topics Covered

• PSA growth and grading backlog pressure
• Whether more graders means better or worse outcomes
• Ludex’s approach to product launches and scan demand
• The market meaning behind major card sales
• Why release cadence is getting harder to track
• How Ryan and Brian think about hobby infrastructure
• The road to The National and why it matters

Links

• Collector Nation YouTube: youtube.com/@TheCollectorNation
• Right About Now / Ryan’s main podcast hub: ryanisright.com
• Collector Station: thecollectorstation.com
• Collector Station Instagram: instagram.com/thecollectorstation
• Ludex: ludex.com or Download the LUDEX app